Although typically used to relieve day to day anxiety and stress, relaxation techniques can also play a role in the management of pain. They help reduce muscle tension and like hypnosis, shift attention away from pain. In one study, for instance, patients who were taught relaxation methods required half the painkillers after abdominal surgery compared to a control group, and were able to leave the hospital earlier.
Progressive muscle relaxation, described in 1938 by Dr. Edmund Jacobson, is a common technique. It calls for tensing and then relaxing specific muscle groups, working from the feet to the head while focusing on deep regular breathing. Another technique called the relaxation response, requires you to select a word or phrase and repeat it until the mind is empty and the body relaxed. This method is in fact, a form of mediation.
The most technical of all relaxation methods is biofeedback. This calls for hooking a subject up to a device that continually measures a physiological variable muscle tension for instance, or skin temperature is increasing or decreasing this is the feedback. The subject then tries to lower the number or change the pitch by focusing on the painful area or on whatever sensations, thoughts or feelings work for him. When biofeedback is successful it produces muscle relaxation, reduced anxiety and an increased sense of control all of which may contribute to pain relief, particularly for headaches and muscle contraction pain.
Pain clinics
If you have persistent, intractable pain especially in the lower back and other treatments haven’t worked, you may be referred to one of the hundreds of pain clinics now operating across the country, As part of a coordinated program of treatments, a clinic may offer psychological counseling, hypnosis, acupuncture, along with such traditional medical therapies as surgery, orthopedics, physical therapy and drugs. The regimen usually includes a program of aerobic exercise, such as cycling or swimming. Exercise may help reduce pain by raising endorphin levels, increasing self-confidence, reducing stress, and/or simply distracting people from their pain.
Pain clinics employ various strategies to deal with the self-perpetuating psychological aspects often associated with chronic pain syndrome. As discussed last month, a person’s lack of self-esteem, sense of helplessness, chronic depression, desire for attention and other factors can all help perpetuate pain and suffering. At a clinic a patient may be allowed to discuss pain for only a set of time, and the staff tries to reinforce the patient’s constructive behavior, such as talking about other things and participating in group projects. The family is also taught to understand the needs the patient’s pain may serve and to help him satisfy these needs without using pain as a lever.
Next Week ‘Opiates and other drugs’
Article extracted from this publication >> September 1, 1989
